Judge Refuses To Jail Teenager For Stabbing Pedophile Who Abused Her

A girl who was sexually abused when she was 8 years-old came back six years later to kill her abuser.

The crime which she committed last year was heard in court, Tuesday, as the presiding judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told the now 15 year-old teenager, “It would be a ‘disgrace’ to send her to prison, despite the fact she had attacked the man, 56, in his own home, stabbing him close to his heart”.

Judge Durham also refused to foist a compulsory victim surcharge on her when she appeared at Bradford Crown Court, after hearing her testify that the pedophile had destroyed her life, adding: “If anyone tries to force you, I will pay it myself. It would be a disgrace to send a survivor like you to prison”.

Presiding Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC refused to jail the teenager

The girl had been raped severally when she was 8 but her assaulter was spared jail and received only a community order which made her feel like the legal system disappointed her especially since the man continually harassed her after the trial.

In November, the girl who cannot be named for legal reasons took judgement in her own hands as she armed herself with a large kitchen knife, went into her abuser’s home in Bradford, West Yorkshire and stabbed him in the chest, severing a major artery.

She plunged the blade into him in front of his two young children and said: ‘I am going to kill you’.

After stabbing him, she went to her aunt and hugged her, saying: ‘Tell my mum I love her’. The teenager then went to the Trafalgar House Police station, in Bradford city centre and handed herself over.

Confessing to what she had done, she told officers: ‘I’ve killed someone’.

Defending her niece and how she had felt let down by the justice system, the girl’s aunt, Miss Gilmore told the court: “She had been ‘entirely destroyed’ when her abuser was not jailed for sexually assaulting her and inciting her to engage in sexual activity. She had to give evidence at his trial because he denied the offences, and after the case became paranoid he was going to get her. She was later excluded from school for poor behavior. She feared she would never get a husband and she lived her life in a bad dream”.

Initially, the girl was charged with attempted murder but the Crown court accepted her guilty plea to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Elyas Patel, mitigating, said: “Rightly or wrongly, this 15-year-old felt that the justice system had let her down. With Your Honor at the wheel, the justice system will not fail her today. She was left deeply troubled and scarred. She acted in a few moments of despair and desperation. This is an exceptional case which requires an exceptional course. This deeply troubled and damaged child, bedeviled by low self esteem, is crying out for help”.

Patel told the court that ‘the girl had the unwavering support of her mother who knew her daughter needed ongoing support’.

Judge Durham concluded: “You stabbed him in the region of his heart. Mercifully, you did not kill him. He was saved by excellent medical intervention and has made a pretty full recovery. Why did you stab this man? Because when you were eight in 2009 he committed serious sexual offences against you. He was treated by the courts, with hindsight, somewhat leniently but things have changed. Now there is condign punishment in cases of this nature, in accordance with the guidelines”.

She might not have killed her abuser, but she left him permanently scarred him as he has been left in constant pain from the stab wound.

The girl was sentenced to a two year Youth Rehabilitation Order with supervision.

I support the girl’s courage despite how drastic it might seem to some people.

What about you, should she have just let it go? Or, you support her courage in stabbing her abuser?